So, since the last time I mentioned going to the skatepark and busting my knee & elbow, I’ve been a few more times (without incident). Turns out, the skatepark is a lot of fun. I’m slowly learning fun stuff like dropping in over the coping, pumping around in the bowl, and hopping out.
My next goal is to clear the flat area at the top of the shallow bowl- I’ve watched Matt do it at least 50 times, and I started trying last time I was there. I think I jumped about 6 inches off the ground and cleared about the first foot of concrete before chickening out when I started to get that “floaty” feeling of being more than 6 inches off the ground.

I’m shelving that one until after Worlds.

I’ve decided that since positive reinforcement is a great learning tool, that each time I learn something new & awesome, I’ll pimp my bike out just a little bit. I’m thinking Euro style dirt jumper… so I purchased a Hope headset yesterday to replace the janky stock Ritchey one. Other future upgrades include anything else that Hope makes, as well as a new chainwheel. Here’s the starting point:

Other than the occasional recovery days at the park, my rides are generally easy commutes to/from work & errands or short, all-out, race-type efforts on the CX bike. Today is one of those days, and I’m eager to see how the power numbers will look since they’ve been steadily creeping upwards at a comforting rate. Someone commented on a previous post and asked what my power numbers were. Since that’d be like advertising my hand in a game of poker, I’ll just say that I can maintain between 200 and 300 watts for my 20 minute intervals.

(if you’re not well versed in wattage, that lands me somewhere between a beginner and Katie Compton)

Finally, on a “self marketing” note, my “webmaster” (AKA Ryan) has put some nice little links over in the right sidebar. You can follow Brickhouse Racing on Facebook and Twitter (@BrickhouseMTB) to make sure you don’t miss anything new and exciting.